Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,
There is a popular stereotype that Chassidim are not organized and not punctilious to use out their time to its fullest. Nothing can be further from the truth. Regarding being organized, the Rebbe teaches us (HaYom Yom 7 Tammuz): “The Baal Shem Tov was an organized person; the Maggid of Mezritch was particular about orderliness; and my great-great grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, taught his chassidim to be orderly. We see this in his maamarim, letters, and niggunim. The chassidim who had a fixed time to visit Liozna — or later, Liadi — were not allowed to change it without permission from the Alter Rebbe. To receive such license, one had to provide a reason… The Alter Rebbe established a special committee, headed by his brother, R. Yehudah Leib, to maintain order among the chassidim. And he had a separate committee, headed by the Mitteler Rebbe, to guide the younger married men of the community.”
Regarding being careful with time, we learn (HaYom yom 17 Cheshvan): “We must carefully watch our time. We have to accept the yoke of the Torah. Every moment and every day that passes is not only a day, but a chunk of life. The days pass by, as our Sages say (Talmud Yerushalmi, Brachos 1:1): “A day arrives and a day departs; a week arrives…, a month…, a year….” My father [the Rebbe Rashab] used to say in the name of the Alter Rebbe: ‘A summer day and a winter night is an entire year.’”
This theme, about maximizing the time that we have and to use it to its fullest, is the main theme of the sichos and maamer of the farbrengen of Chayei Sara 5738. The Maamer (Dibbur Hamaschil V’Avraham Zaken) is based on the Pasuk (24:1), “And Avraham was old, came in (advanced in) days, and the Lord had blessed Abraham with everything.” The Rebbe quotes the Alter Rebbe who explains that Avraham “came in his days,” meaning that he used out every day for the Avoda of that day. His days were full and complete.
We find the same conscientiousness by Sara in the beginning of our Parsha. The Torah (23:1) tells us: “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.” Rashi comments: “The reason that the word ‘years’ was written after every digit is to tell you that every digit is to be expounded upon individually: when she was one hundred years old, she was like a twenty-year-old regarding sin. Just as a twenty-year-old has not sinned, because she is not liable to punishment, so too when she was one hundred years old, she was without sin. And when she was twenty, she was like a seven-year-old as regards to beauty. The years of the life of Sarah: All of them equally good.”
There is an obvious question that needs to be addressed (ois 7 of sicha): It is obvious that, as any living and growing righteous person, Sara kept on growing in her avodas Hashem. There obviously was a difference before she, and Abraham her husband, were commanded “Lech Lecha” - and all the Brachos that came along with it like “And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing” - and after the journey to Eretz Yisroel. Especially after her name was changed from Sarai to Sara, and she now had the special kochos of Hashem with her, that her avodas Hashem was surely on a much higher level than before.
When someone reaches 100 years old, their Avoda reaches an even higher level, higher than the limitations of the world, and especially on the day of the passing of a Tzadeikes, when her Neshama was so uplifted because of the news of the Akeida, there was an obvious elevation in her avoda. Being the case that she kept on growing in her Avodas Hashem, how can we say that all her years were equal?
The answer (ois 11) is very fundamental and instructive in our avodas Hashem: 1) Firstly, all her days were equal in the fact that she used them out to their fullest. While it is obvious that she kept growing in her avodas Hashem, her commitment did not change. She worked her hardest, with her avoda and abilities of that time, to make sure that each day and avoda was accomplished in the best way; 2) she made sure that her avoda of the past was elevated into the next avoda. This way, at the end, all her years (avoda of the years) were equal as they were all elevated to the current, and highest, avoda.
These ideas, of elevating each previous avoda into the current avoda and using all the abilities that we have to be successful in our avoda, are especially connected to our avoda to bring Moshiach.
Shabbos Chayei Sara 5752 was the Kinus HaShluchim. At the farbrengen, the Rebbe made clear that from then on, every previous aspect of shlichus needs to be elevated to the avoda of bringing Moshiach. In the words of the Rebbe: “The most recent innovation in the work of shlichus is: to receive our righteous Moshiach in the true and complete Redemption. Indeed, the preparation for the coming of our righteous Moshiach is the most all-encompassing aspect of Judaism and includes all the other points and details of the work of shlichus.”
Every convention has a theme. The theme of the Kinus HaShluchim of that year was “Kol Yemei Chayecha L’havi L’Yemos HaMoshiach - All our days of our life is to bring Moshiach.” By that farbrengen, and several of the following farbrengens as well, the Rebbe taught lessons from that theme in how focused we need to be in bringing Moshiach. The following are a few of those special lessons:
As emphasized in the program of the convention - “all the days of your life to bring the days of Moshiach.” All aspects of Divine service (every day of your life, and in every day itself - in every detail and hour of the day) must be permeated with “to bring the days of Moshiach.” It’s not sufficient “to increase” (as stated in many places), or that he (the shliach) should stand and wait until Moshiach will come, at which point he will take part and have the satisfaction. Rather he is “to bring.” He does all that depends on him to bring “the days of Moshiach.” [The word “days” is] in the plural, [meaning] not only the beginning of one day but the days of Moshiach (and not only when Moshiach is “presumed to be Moshiach,” but all the days of Moshiach - also the completion of “absolutely Moshiach” etc.)” (Chayei Sara)
2) “The essential point in the life of every Jew and that of the Jewish people as a whole throughout all the generations has been: “All the days of your life to bring about the days of Moshiach.” This requires extra emphasis in this generation and in our times, as mentioned frequently of late, that all aspects have been completed and we need only greet our righteous Moshiach in actuality.
‘”All the days of your life” means every moment of a person’s life, day or night, awake or asleep, for he is still alive then through his breathing (“All that breathes praises G-d,” and “with each and every breath a person breathes…”), which is necessary every moment (unlike eating and drinking). And “all the days of your life to bring about the days of Moshiach” means that his life (every instant of it) is bringing the days of Moshiach. That is, a Jew does not limit himself only to those times when he thinks or speaks or does something to bring Moshiach. Rather, the essence of his life (“your life”) is to bring the days of Moshiach.” (Toldos 5752)
3) “Therefore it’s understood… in this generation and at this time, after every requirement has been accomplished (as mentioned above), one has the complete assurance in the Torah that there will certainly be “(You will remember the day of your exodus from the land of Egypt) all the days of your life… to bring about the days of Moshiach.”
…Practically, this means that the Divine service of the Jewish people now must be “to bring about the days of Moshiach.” We must reveal that the situation of “coming to Egypt” in exile is in truth a situation of the “Redemption of Israel.” [This is achieved] through his preparation of himself and others for the situation of “the days of Moshiach.” (Shmos 5752).
Dear Friends: Let us all make positive hachlatos to add in our learning about Moshiach, thus bringing Moshiach into our lives. Let us remember, and live with, the words of the Rebbe to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel: “I have repeated and emphasized many times that not only will the Redemption eventually come, but the Redemption already stands on the threshold. It waits for every man and woman of Israel to open the door and pull the Redemption into the room!!”
Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com